How To Spend One Week In Austria

Vienna

Vienna reminded us a lot of Paris! It’s a large city with beautiful architecture and busy streets. Though it's packed with historical buildings, it still has a modern city-center filled with shops and restaurants. We wish we had more time here to explore since there is so much to see! It’s easy to get around in Vienna as you can walk to most places, but there’s also plenty of taxis, busses and trams. Since Vienna is such a big city, there’s so much to do, but we had to narrow it down since we were only there for a few days.

We stayed at Hotel Grand Ferdinand and it was amazing! It is a five-star hotel perfectly located in the Aldstat area (a quick walk to the city-center but on a quiet street corner). The hotel is quite unique with a modern, industrial vibe. They even have an amazing breakfast buffet on their rooftop every morning overlooking the city! Complete with a rooftop pool, E-Vespas for guests and an exercise room, the hotel offers plenty of amenities.

Things to do: There are so many cathedrals, museums and historical buildings to check out if you wander throughout the city-center.

• Get dressed up and attend an opera or ballet at Vienna State Opera House

• Explore the grounds of Hofburg Palace and Volksgarten Park

• Try a Viennese hot chocolate

• Shopping! There’s every store imaginable in the city center

• Nightlife. Vienna has a large nightlife and clubbing scene

Salzburg

Salzburg was definitely one of our favorite cities on the trip and was only two and a half hours by train from Vienna. It's such a cute, historic town and felt out of a movie. Which, it technically was! The Sound of Music was filmed here. It was so cool to recognize all of the spots from the film. We were supposed to do a day trip to Hallstat (about one hour away by car) but decided to cancel it so we could spend more time in Salzburg. We stayed at the Hotel Goldener Hirsch and it was one of the most luxurious hotels I’ve ever stayed at. It’s a five-star boutique hotel part of The Luxury Collection by Marriot. Dating back to 1407, it's one of the oldest hotels in the city, with such a historic charm complete with modern amenities.

The staff were also extremely friendly. It was so fun that they were dressed in the traditional Tracht uniforms. We looked forward to the “turn down” service every night, where they would fluff our pillows and leave fresh water and Austrian chocolates by our bed before we got back. It was also perfectly located in the heart of the city. We would love to come back and stay here during Christmas time!

Two or three days is the perfect amount of time in Salzburg, as it is a small town that is pretty walkable.

Things to do:

• The Original Sound of Music Tour! They have a lot of tours relative to the film, but this one is highly ranked. It took four hours and drove us on a large bus all throughout Salzburg and mountain villages where scenes of the movie were filmed!

• Salzburg is Mozart’s birthplace, so they have a museum and many tours dedicated to him

• Shopping on the main street

• Drinks at a brewery

• Mirabell Gardens, another Sound of Music tourist attraction with stunning gardens

• Dom Platz, a beautiful plaza with a cathedral

Innsbruck

We spent our last two nights in Austria, visiting the town of Innsbruck. It was about a two-hour train ride from Salzburg and ended up being one of our favorite cities of the trip! It’s a whimsical small town located in the valley of the alps along the river, so the scenery is insanely great. Innsbruck is known as a popular destination for winter sports, but is lovely to visit in the summertime as well. We loved not having a distinct plan in place for Innsbruck, and loved wandering the streets and popping into shops and restaurants as we pleased.

Here are some things we did and things we would do if we had more time:

• Wander around Aldstat, the old town

• Check out the famous “Golden Roof”, a beautiful landmark in town that’s been around since the 1500s

• Visit the Swarovski Crystal Museum. We didn’t get a chance to go since it was a little out of town, but it’s one of Innsbruck’s top attractions!

• Their winter Christmas market and shops

Day Trips

Hallstat would be a great day trip from Salzburg!

Vienna

• Missel & Schein: A cute atmosphere with an open kitchen where you can watch the chefs make schnitzel

• Furich: Found lots of gluten-free options here for authentic Austrian food, they even do gluten-free fried schnitzel

• Aida: A cute pink-themed bakery chain

• Restaurant Rote Bar: You'll need to be make a reservation in advance, as they have a fancy atmosphere right across from the opera house

Salzburg

• Restaurant Goldener Hirsch: This was in our hotel and is one of Austria’s most well-known fine dining restaurants

• Sternbrau: Typical Austrian food with a cool beer garden vibe

• Monkey Bar: A coffee and cocktail bar right on the river

• St. Peter Stiftskulinatium: The oldest restaurant in Europe (est. 803.) with super cute decor (think pink, faux fur and bohemian)

• M32: A restaurant on top of the hill with a view of the whole city

• Café Tomaselli: It has been around over 150 years!

Innsbruck

• Dinner at Goldener Adler: Complete with local foods and a nice atmosphere, they also have a wine cave inside where you can do a tasting

• The Breakfast Club: They had amazing breakfast options. We were excited to have eggs and a more “American” breakfast

• The Naked Indigo: A vegan restaurant with gluten-free options and the best view on the river

• Bar 360: A great place to grab a sunset drink with panoramic views of the city